Manish Chhowalla

Professor Manish Chhowalla

Research Fellow

Organisation

Imperial College London

Research summary

Graphite is the most common form of carbon encountered in everyday life. For example, pencil “lead” is in fact graphite, consisting of atomically thin sheets of carbon stacked on one another. Graphene is atomically thin and yet stable, something that was previously thought to be impossible. It is also the strongest existing material, exceeding the strength of steel by 100 times. Moreover, the unique structure of graphene allows it to conduct electricity better than any other material. These extraordinary properties are potentially useful in many applications such as nano-electronics, sensors, membranes, thin films, and composites.

Our research aims to develop large-area graphene thin that are optically transparent and electrically conducting which could have potential uses in displays, solar cells, flexible electronics, and coatings. Large-scale graphene production has already been achieved during our research via chemically exfoliating graphite into individual sheets. This method is a cost and material effective route for producing opto-electronically active highly uniform graphene thin films over large areas. However, the properties of graphene obtained from chemical exfoliation remain largely unexplored. Chemical processing introduces disorder and defects into the graphene structure. Thus, it is crucial to investigate the nature of such defects and disorder through detailed analysis of the atomic and electronic structure of the materials to enhance performance and uncover its full potential.

Grants awarded

Transparent and conducting graphene based electrodes for solar cells

Transparent and conducting graphene based electrodes for solar cells

Scheme: Wolfson Research Merit Awards

Dates: Jul 2009 - Jul 2010

Value: £90,000

Was this page useful?

Thank you for your feedback

Thank you for your feedback. Please help us improve this page by taking our short survey.